Luton company is part of the team creating the world’s first indoor drone

Drone project development team

Published:15:00Wednesday 03 January 2018

A film making company from Luton has joined forced with The University of Valencia and companies in Belgium and Spain to design and build the world’s first indoor drone.

The 1.4million Euro project, called the AiRT project, has been funded via Horizon 2020, the EU’s biggest research and innovation programme.

The project is a close collaboration between Clearhead, of Bute Street in Luton, the Spanish University, Belgium-based Pozyx Labs which specialises in indoor positioning hardware and software, and Madrid based AeroTools UAT, experts in hardware and manufacturing.

Gavin O’Brien, partner and business director of Clearhead, said: “Winning this job has been a huge coup for us and the UK as a whole. So much of the film equipment we use comes from China or America so to see Europe leading on this and to be playing a key part in the creation of a world first is extraordinary.”

Last year, the team from Clearhead spent time in Spain, documenting the drone’s development on film. As well as leading on the branding and marketing of the drone, Clearhead has also led on the research and focus groups, which have been held in the UK and Spain, bringing together a mix of Europe’s best film makers, photographers, theatre performers and architects. The new drone is expected to be ready for trade shows by June.